This past spring, some of the doctors I work with went to a conference in Toronto. One of them brought a gift back for the fellow she was mentoring, a half-mug that says: "Toronto was so expen$ive I could only afford half a cup!" (It's in half the vertical way, so the mouth of the mug looks like a D, not an O.)
A couple of months later I was down in the fellow's office and saw the mug on his desk. When I commented on how clever it was, he asked if I wanted it, since he was never going to use it.
"Why not?" I said. "It's my half-birthday. What could be more perfect than a half-mug given half-heartedly?"
But that's only - you knew it was coming - half the story. That afternoon I took my half-mug down to the cafeteria and filled it with coffee. When you bring your own mug, coffee costs 85¢. I asked the cashier if he would charge me half-price, since it was only half a mug, and he said he didn't have that button on his cash register. I told him I would then have to put 85¢ on my credit card, since I didn't have enough cash.
"How much cash do you have on you?" he asked.
"Forty-seven cents," I told him.
And do you know what he did then? He rang it up as "$0.47 miscellaneous." People tell me this is their favorite part of the story, that a cashier would play along. How do you think the mug scanned? I don't think it's half-bad!
Famous Hat
A couple of months later I was down in the fellow's office and saw the mug on his desk. When I commented on how clever it was, he asked if I wanted it, since he was never going to use it.
"Why not?" I said. "It's my half-birthday. What could be more perfect than a half-mug given half-heartedly?"
But that's only - you knew it was coming - half the story. That afternoon I took my half-mug down to the cafeteria and filled it with coffee. When you bring your own mug, coffee costs 85¢. I asked the cashier if he would charge me half-price, since it was only half a mug, and he said he didn't have that button on his cash register. I told him I would then have to put 85¢ on my credit card, since I didn't have enough cash.
"How much cash do you have on you?" he asked.
"Forty-seven cents," I told him.
And do you know what he did then? He rang it up as "$0.47 miscellaneous." People tell me this is their favorite part of the story, that a cashier would play along. How do you think the mug scanned? I don't think it's half-bad!
Famous Hat
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